Dreams of treasure sought and treasure found. In my own dreams, this often means something I need to uncover to move ahead--whether buried memories, well-defended secrets, or simple ignorance I need to clear up.

But early in my dreamwork the meaning was often self-referential: the treasure to be unburied was either dream-recall itself, and then (once I got better at recording dream events) their meanings, and then, once I got good at that, acting on dream advice.

But it can also be literal. A fair number of these dreams prompt the dreamer to find a real lost treasure. So before digging for symbols, look under the sofa--or wherever your dream suggests. Your unconscious catches things you miss.

ADORABLE CYBORGS: by Wayan; dreamed 2016/10/5, a dream-poem on inner teamwork
A child dreamer and two different kinds of cyborg must cooperate to free the hostages locked under San Francisco Bay...

THE BATTLE FOR THE RAI DRAGON: by Rikutsu; 2015/12/6, a dream flagging that change is possible at last
In a corrupt world, a talisman called the Rai Dragon offers hope of real change--IF it can be found, AND used by someone decent-hearted...

BIRD, CAT, TREASURE: by Anna Kingsford; 1877/8/3, two warning dreams in one night
Should Anna quit hiding her psychic dreams? She dreams a cat eats her bird, and burglars loot an unprotected house. Maybe not...

BOOK OF GOLD: by a four-year-old; before 1961, an apparent telepathic flash
A woman urged her friend to give her daughter a musical education. Without hearing this, the child went hunting for...

BREAK FREE: by Emily Joy; 2006/5/11, an encouraging dream on the price of safety.
I search for family skeletons, but then a talking plant on TV inspires me to seek the sun and fly free. But certain velociraptors and barbarian swordswomen object...
CAUTION: DUELS, FISH ABUSE, THE F-WORD

COLLAR OF GOLD: a Welshman of Kemmeis District; 1180s? A recurring dream of treasure
A rich man dreamt thrice that hidden in St Berner's Well near his house was a golden collar. He reached in and...
CAUTION: OW

THE CRYSTALLIZERS: by Wayan, 2014/11/21, a surreal dream on the lost art of talking to strangers
I'm in an airport full of aliens who, when bored, crystallize until things get fun again. My planeflight glows like a dragon-hoard! But lonely...

THE DRAGON ECONOMIST: by Wayan, 2011/1/7, a surreal dreamlet prodding me
An economist gets a job as a dragon guarding a data-treasure. Heroes plot to slay him, but I trust him more than them...

DRAGON-JEWEL: by Wayan; 2013/6/27, a 1001 Nights dream-poem
I stumble on a dragon-hoard. Wizards and caliphs hunt me--how to get outa town? A brown coat and a delivery bike...

THE DYE-HOUSE RECORDS: by a Christian secretary, before 1961, a prayer-induced intuition
Our archivist had had a stroke. When an engine failed, my boss said "Find its records if it takes two weeks!" Five minutes later...

ERMINE, or, GOTHMOG'S GHOST: by Wayan, 1984/2/11, a gender-bent & species-bent warning dream
I'm a delicate little ermine-chinchilla whose best friends are all sewer rats. They lavish food and drink on me, and I nibble to be polite...

FALSE BOTTOM: by Edith Wharton; October 1913, a summing-up nightmare.
Demons open a trunk full of the horrors I've faced this year, and lay them out, mocking me... but is that all?

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH: by Roswila, August 2002; a dream-poem illustrating dream reentry
My horse and I dove into a lagoon and sought buried treasure on the sea-floor. What are we really after?

GEODE: by Anonymous #30; before 1961, a clairvoyant dream
I dreamed of a valuable geode on a gravel bar in a nearby river, a place I'd never been. The next day I went...

THE GIFTED CHILD: by Brenda Ferrimani, 2013?, a painting of an incubated dream
Previous dreamwork had made it clear my mother had betrayed me; I asked my dreams how to protect myself from those who do not love me...

GOBLET OF GOLD: by Sophocles, between 450-406 BC; a detective dream.
A huge gold cup had been stolen from the Temple of Hercules. Sophocles repeatedly dreamt Hercules told him who'd done it...

GOLD EATER: by Wayan; 560K, 9-page comic of a 1993/1/15 dream.
I'm an orphan shapeshifter enslaved by a gold-eating monster. But I meet a cat-girl with a hammer...
CAUTION: BAD FOSTER-DAD; CAPITALIST MONSTER; VIOLENCE TO INNOCENT VENDING MACHINES

GOLD VERSUS DIAMONDS: by Wayan; 1972/1/20, a dream fable.
We're children seeking gold in a fairy wood. We dig where the elf-kids played, but their parents show up...

A GOLDEN KEY IN A CHEAP LIGHT: by Wayan; 1996/7/9, a subtle dream lesson
I was so lonely the potheads on Haight looked good. I dreamed I had the Golden Key, but under a cheap sodium streetlamp, ALL my keys looked gold! Then I met true gold: a woman meditating until she shone...
CAUTION: NUDITY, HAIGHT STREET STONERS

GREEN RAY, BLUE WINGS: by Wayan, 1974/7/14, a joyful apocalyptic dream
High in the Sierra during a thunderstorm, I dream aliens steal the gold, and the sun's going nova. But Life wants us to conquer space, so we all grow wings...

GUDRUN'S FOUR HUSBANDS: by Gudrun Osvifursdottir; summer 988, 4 childhood dreams predicting Gudrun's life; plus a dream by her husband Thorkell Eyjolfson, spring 1026.
Gudrun dreams of four treasures lost: a hood, a bracelet, a ring, and a jeweled helm. Her cousin sees these as 4 marriages...

HIS MINE: by Wayan; 1985/12/2, a wild dream epic.
I'm a hobbit seeking Henry Fonda's haunted gold mine, but I end up in a showdown in a shaman's bar...

ICE-TRAY: by Anonymous #28; before 1961, a waking intuition so unlikely it suggests ESP
I lost two rings. Searched hours; nothing. Then I had a strong urge to check our ice-tray, though I hadn't touched the freezer all day. In an icecube...

IN THE VAULT: by Wayan; 1983/4/6, a dream of treasure.
I was a sheltered girl till I entered my family's secret ancestral vault. I didn't expect to meet...

JADE JACKPOT, or, A HEAP O' CHANGE: by Wayan; 1990/1/7, a dream of shaking down God.
I'm slipping dimes into a boulder of jade: a vending machine that fills every order wrong. Why feed it? Well...

LEARNING SCALES: by Wayan; 1985/6/26, an epic dream of Chinese dragons.
I find myself in astral China. The Empress is banished, the Jester rules. Wisdom is lost. We need a Dragon...

LOST OPAL: by Anonymous #27; before 1961, a clairvoyant or subliminal dream
The opal fell out of my ring somewhere around town. I was heartbroken at the loss. But that night my husband dreamed...

THE LOST RING: by Helen Fraser; 1924; an astral lost-and-found dream
A friend in Heaven promises Helen a lost ring would return to her. Three days later it did; but its path had been strange...

THE MARTIAN FEUD: by Wayan; 1994/3/10, a warning dream.
On Old Mars, before it died, two rival families' teasing finally goes too far, despite the whale's warning...
CAUTION: VIOLENCE

THE MER BUILDING: by Wayan; 2001/2/23, a dream of a double life.
Iím a puma with a night job as a cellist. But my day job with The Architectives is the bizarre one...

NEW LEVEL!: by "Julian"; 2006/5/22, 3 gamelike dreams in one night, two of them epic
My mom and I road-duel an alien beetle, then investigate a deepspace Marie Celeste; then I spy for the Angevin Empire to protect the Crown Jewels...

PARVATI SAWS THE WALL: by Wayan; 2013/6/26, a dream-poem about a kook
A martial-arts student won't fight the teacher she loves--not even for her final exam. Instead she gets a rotary saw and...

THE PHOENIX: by A.C. Benson; 1894. A dream-poem.
I don't understand this poem's symbolism or even its style. It came to me whole, in a dream...

THE PIRATE TWINS: by Wayan; 1996/7/25, a dreamtale on intrigue.
I love the Twins. They love intrigue. So when a hired crocodile sabotages our Egyptian treasure-hunt...
CAUTION: BAD GIRLS

PITS OF POWER: by Wayan; 2005/11/16, a dream of rival miracles
One tribe builds earth-magic pits that can teleport you or grant wishes. But the other tribe's flow-state magic is harder to define...
CAUTION: SEX FANTASY GRANTED

REGEANAíS DRAGON: by Regeana; 1996/3/9, a dream of generosity
The jewels in the hoard had strange powers, but the advice of the dragon guarding them was even stranger...

A RETRIBUTION OF MERMAIDS: by Bruno Oliveira; summer 2011, a treasure-finding dream
Despite corporate crooks, missiles and floods, Angelina Jolie and I find the lock of mermaid hair...

THE RINGMAN'S SQUIRREL: by Wayan; 13K, 1982/9/17, a dream of a time after us.
One day, in the ruins of an American city whose name was lost, I met a Ringman under an oak...
CAUTION: GROSS WORK, IF YOU CAN GET IT

ROAR OF THE SAILS: by Wayan; 1973/9/6, a magical scavenger-hunt dream goes lucid--but not in a typical way
Our teams search through fountains and pavilions, finding & trading the glowing stones. None of the magic makes me go lucid, but as we sail toward the finish line...

SECRET SCREEN: by Wayan; 2018/4/19 and 2018/5/16, three linked dreamlets on escaping grim games
A friend talks me into being lookout as he steals a cult's secret papers. I know it'll end in murder, but foresight paralyzes me!
Trying to master a game that freezes unplayably now & then, I find a button leading to a secret screen full of second chances...
I'm lost in a grim basement, but two kids show me an exit door whose cobwebby glass can be walked through like air...

SHIELDS FROM THE GODDESS: by Wayan; 1996/8/3, a dream that's a slap in the face.
A Goddess-worshiping general gets a visit from her twin daughters who bring a puzzling message...

SULFUR GROTTO: by Wayan; dreamed 1988/8/30, a psychic genderbent rescue-dream
I'm a teenage girl diving for treasure. In an eerie coral grotto reeking of sulfur I spot a diver in trouble... and wake to find the grotto is real..

THE SWAFFHAM TINKER: by John Chapman and a London shopkeeper; 1460s?, two linked, complementary dreams.
Chapman dreams he must go to London and stand on London Bridge; when he does, a stranger tells him "dreams are nonsense! Why, I dreamt of buried treasure a hundred miles from here, in some town called..."

SWORD IN MY BACK: by Franz Kafka; 1915/1/19, a surreal but un-Kafkaesque dream.
I slept late and felt a bit stiff, but until my friends pulled it out of my neck I had no idea...

TAROT: MINE CHILD: by Wayan; 31K. Tarot card, 3x5", summer 1978.
Deep down in the strata inside you, gems lie waiting in the dark. Waiting for this child to dig them free...

THE TOMBSTONE TEST: by Wayan; 1986/8/18, a deceptive dream.
I walk in a vast graveyard full of history's most famous people. But it's all fake, built to test your...

TREASURE UNDER STONE, or, OOPS: by Daniel Healy; Jan. 1774, a recurring dream of treasure
Daniel thrice dreamt of money hidden under a great stone in a nearby field. He dug and found a surprise...
CAUTION: IRISH HUMOR

WARM MOTHER: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2001/3/24, 3/29, 3/30 & 4/1; dreams
My mother takes over caring for my sick daughter; I feel pushed aside. When I wake, I try to paint a more positive image of mothering...
For a week, dream after dream appears with situations full of opportunities for patience and letting go of jealousy...

WASTE: by Wayan; 100K, 1990/5/15, a desert singles poem, 11 images.
A road trip through New Mexico mutates into a tour of my relationship disasters...

WATERCATS: by Wayan; 170K, 1987/9/10; a psychic dream of another life.
I'm a biologist who finds an 'extinct' species in a slum. But the survivors speak: they tell me I'm one of them, just hypnotized to think I'm human... And when I wake, another kind of cultural hypnosis is exposed:

WITCH AND WITTENS: by Wayan, 2012/2/20, a dream about sexual ambivalence
I never find girls I dislike hot... so why do this smugly seductive witch and all her pointy-hat minions simultaneously attract and repel me?
CAUTION: JUST... WRONG.